Branded
by CognitiveDissonance
Summary: A newly fledged duelist has begun a new life in Domino and befriended Yugi. Though the group doesn't know much about her, she knows even less about her involvement in Marik's plan for power, and the impending convergence of their pasts and futures. MarikxOC, possibly Yami BakuraxOC or Yami Yugi x OC to a lesser extent in later chapters. M for possible content in later chapters.
1. Chapter 1 - Plans

BRANDED - CHAPTER 1

Another pawn had been placed into his plan - a man who, at this point, was now a mere senseless husk that awaited its next orders. Marik sat alone in the room he had temporarily rented with the use of the incognizant but conveniently casually clothed hunter, deep in thought, though his thoughts were, by no means, idle. Earlier, he had met with and formed a pact with the suspicious figure who had so confidently proposed that they cooperate for the sake of their own interests. He did not trust this man named Bakura, of course, but had known that rejecting such an offer would only be foolish. He had learned some useful information, after all; there were indeed more Millenium items than he had anticipated within the city.

Now, if only Ishizu had not continued to insist on interfering with his plans.. Could she not see that his eventual success could also be hers to share? That his goal was for the sake of _their_ family?

Perhaps she would eventually understand, once the plan had run its course. He did not want to hurt his sister unnecessarily, but the concept of family had grown foreign over the course of the last few years. The family's status as 'Tombkeepers', however, remained as vivid as ever and his hatred gained renewed vigor with each reminder of the pharaoh's existence. His father had made life hard for him. But he did not deserve to die.

Marik's gaze shifted to the Millenium Rod in his grip as he pondered over his new alliance. Yes, hopefully the fool would not be too much trouble once he fulfilled his end of the bargain and defeated the pharaoh. Then, the Ring would be his, and directing his Rare Hunters to the location of the other Millenium items would be an even easier task. He lightly smirked, wondering whether his soon-to-be foe planned the same for him.

He glanced at the door when he heard two quiet knocks.

"Odion. What have you found?"

Upon Odion's entry into the room, Marik couldn't help but notice that he felt relieved that he had never had to resort to the mind control tactic that dominated the behavior of his other servants with Odion. Unlike Ishizu, Odion recognized the importance of redeeming the family name. At least, he seemed to, by obeying his orders; Marik couldn't help but feel an occasional tinge of annoyance at his servant's lack of initiative, despite his unwavering loyalty. Alas, every organization needed a leader.

"The plan is commencing as planned, master. Something useful . . The pharaoh's group is traveling with a new duelist. A girl. I've noted their habits and she's the most isolated." Odion gazed at his brother impassively as a silence permeated the room. Marik tilted his head in thought, his gaze steady and focused still on the rod. After a few moments, his eyes snapped back to those of Odion and he nodded. Wordlessly, Odion left the room in quiet understanding; they both knew that it would be easier this way. Plans had changed for the better.

It had only been a month since her arrival in Domino City, but Astrid was pleased to find that she enjoyed her new home very much. Even better, she had managed to make friends, and was delighted to discover the modesty of the reigning champion of Pegasus's tournament. In fact, his entire group of friends seemed to be very nice people and she was surprised at the amount of time she had spent with them over the last few weeks; she wasn't exactly a very extraverted person, after all.

'If only more duelists shared his attitude,' she mused to herself. Tristan and Joey were loudly remarking to one another outside of the food stand their group had stopped by, and Tea was looking at them smiling. Astrid gazed onward at lights that dotted the streaked horizon and inhaled the freshness of the evening. She heard someone approaching and saw Yugi appear to her right.

"Everything alright?"

She gave a light smile and looked back at their group; they were still busy in line.

"Yeah, just enjoying the evening. It's nice that everything's so . . . alive in the city."

She had grown particularly close to Yugi, as their interests were quite similar. Their mutual interest in Ancient Egypt spurred many interesting conversations, though hers stemmed mainly from a deep rooted fascination with its culture and mythology, and his from the intent to discover more about a few specific exhibits in the museum. Ever since she was a child, she had loved reading books about the gods that were worshipped by Ancient Egyptians and the bizarre rituals that populated their daily lives. At one point during her childhood, she had even gone as far as attempting to learn to decipher hieroglyphics. She smiled at the memory.

They both enjoyed dueling as well, and Yugi had encouraged her to enter the Battle City tournament. They had even dueled each other a few times for fun, and she received a few compliments from him about the strategies she used. He must have just been going easy on her, though, because competitive dueling was definitely not one of her top priorities and she had not invested much time in honing her skills. No, she needed a job quite badly, and her savings were running dry.

Early into their friendship, she had noticed an unusual stoicness-even wiseness-about Yugi that didn't seem typical of people who were their age. She also, of course, noticed the strange golden puzzle that was ever present around his neck. She didn't mention anything about it, but their friends eventually divulged that aside from dueling, his secondary quest was to discover the secrets they thought that it beheld. They didn't seem to speak much of it around her, at least, but she didn't mind. Astrid viewed her new life in Domino as a fresh start - a blank slate, so to speak, and her past had held a few secrets as well. She was glad they didn't ask much of it.

"Will you be going to the museum tomorrow?"

"Yeah, definitely. Maybe we could even ask one of the researchers about the slates - even though they're a little damaged, it might be useful to know where they were found."

Now Astrid saw the rest of their group heading their way, with Tea trailing behind Tristan and Joey. As they approached, she noticed Tea's gaze shifting between both of their faces and hoped that she wasn't reading too much into their friendship. She could tell from the first day that Tea was crushing badly on him, and as a result made an effort to include Tea in their activities as much as possible. It was nice to have such a closely knit group of friends to spend time with, and although they didn't actually know much about her at all, she was content with drifting alongside them through duels and other activities.

The sun had set entirely now, and a few yawns were heard throughout the group as everyone walked toward their tournament hotel rooms. Tea generously offered to share the room with Astrid for the night, and after a few attempts of declining, Astrid gave in. She vaguely heard Tristan make a remark about her sharing his room and grinned when Tea punched him lightly on the arm.

'At least this will make it a lot easier to get to the museum tomorrow with Yugi,' she thought to herself after she had changed into a borrowed pair of sweatpants. Pulling the covers up to her chin, she sighed in comfort as a wave of drowsiness washed over her. Moments later, she was asleep.

The echoes of footsteps resonated through quiet stone halls. Though they were initially barely noticeable, the steps progressively grew louder and were now accompanied with light breathing. Every few feet, torches lit the dark hallways; these halls were familiar and yet tainted. The flickering of the torches did nothing to quell the unease that pervaded this memory - she realized she was moving forward. Unwillingly. She also realized she had misinterpreted the breathing; it was now a very audible crying. She could distinguish the form of a small shadowed figure in the darkness that beheld her, and a chord of panic struck her as she recognized the unmistakable silhouette of the Millenium Rod. She knew what was going to happen next and tried to squeeze her eyes shut; it was no use. She could only watch the arm that held the rod extend upward as she prepared to witness her father's death once again. A flash emanated from the rod and, to her surprise, revealed the shape of a shadowed silhouette.

In another area of Domino City, Ishizu Ishtar awoke with a start in a sheen of cold sweat. The nightmare she had just experienced had began just like the one that recurred and plagued her sleep over the last few years, but this was the first time that it ended differently. She had woken immediately upon the appearance of the second figure and could not make much of it out, but she knew that it was definitely not her father. She could have sworn she also distinguished what resembled a crest on the top of its head.

This was not a memory.

Author's Note: Please review and give me your feedback! It will let me know whether you're enjoying the read, and will motivate me to continue the fic if you like it.


	2. Chapter 2 - Museum

Despite a few setbacks, the day had progressed smoothly enough. Astrid was particularly excited with the prospect of viewing a new ancient Egyptian exhibit and hoped the hieroglyphs were preserved well enough to view in their entirety; the language had always held a mysterious and fascinating beauty to her.

The group had split after breakfast; she wasn't sure where Tristan and Joey went - they were probably at an arcade - and Tea had went off to run some last minute errands. This left Astrid and Yugi together, and though their conversation this afternoon was filled with a few silences, they were not uncomfortable silences.

Yugi turned to her and asked, "So, Astrid, what brought you here to Domino City?".

Astrid looked back at him and considered a response, maintaining their steady pace toward the museum. Although traffic and pedestrians buzzed noisily beside them, she felt as though she was put on the spot.

_'I suppose it had to be asked sometime . . .'_ she mused to herself.

"Well, I suppose I just wanted a fresh start. I wasn't really unhappy with things back at home, but everything was growing . . . stagnant."

This wasn't a lie; her life had indeed grown stagnant, but her reason for moving involved far more factors than that. She didn't want to think about them. Besides, living in the city was invigorating, in its own way - filled with life and vigor that _ wished came more easily to her.

"Do you miss your family?"

Ah, the question that inevitably emerged in every conversation.

"I'm actually an orphan."

Yugi's eyes slightly widened in surprise, but she interrupted the impending apology with a wave of her hand and a smile. Years of answering that question had desensitized her enough that she no longer often ruminated over the family that she never had. And one could not miss what was never there, after all.

"That's alright, it doesn't bother me at all any more."

A giggling couple passed, and she vaguely wondered whether she would ever have another half to complete the whole. She couldn't imagine herself with a long-term partner - certainly not someone who was as cheerful as the two she just saw. This was one of the reasons she liked spending time with Yugi, in particular; they had similar demeanors. She wondered what exactly it was about him that struck her as odd.

Yugi seemed a little quieter now. She assumed it was the subject at hand.

"And what about you? You're living with your grandfather, right? Doesn't he own a game shop?"

His gaze trailed over to hers and he gave her a crooked smile. "Yes, though I'm not home much of the time. You should come meet him some time, I'm sure he'd be more than happy to show you his collection of duel monster cards,"

"Mm, that would be nice. I've definitely gotten more into dueling now that I'm around duelists so much." Astrid smiled. The encouragement she had been receiving from Yugi was definitely kindling her interest in dueling.

After they turned a corner, the Domino City museum was now within sight. Just as they were about to reach the front steps, a man with white hair approached them. His sudden appearance almost startled her, even, since she hadn't noticed him there a moment earlier.

"Hello Bakura, I didn't know you were coming to the museum today. Meet Astrid, I'm sure you've heard about her - she's been spending quite a lot of time with all of us lately."

"Oh yes, I have heard about her. I've heard you're quite the duelist, though you don't really play," Bakura smiled warmly at Astrid, but the smile did not seem to reach his eyes.

"Thanks, nice to meet you," she said, with equal warmth. "Do you play?"

"Not competitively." The smile remained.

"Why don't we all go inside and see the exhibits? Bakura, your father has been to Egypt once or twice, hasn't he? Maybe you'll recognize the exhibit I'd like to see." As Yugi and Bakura ascended the stairs, Astrid noticed a glimmer of gold near Bakura's neck.

_'Interesting, it looks similar to the puzzle Yugi has . . .'_ she thought to herself. She couldn't shake the sense of unease she felt upon meeting Bakura, but he didn't seem too unusual. He was just . . . Quiet.

_'I'm probably just being paranoid.'_

The museum was surprisingly empty today, despite the fact that it was a weekend.

_'Good,'_ Astrid thought, _'Maybe I'll be able to get some information from the people who work here. An application, even . . .'_

As she traversed the halls with the two of them and engaged in occasional small talk with Bakura, they finally reached the exhibit that was the focus of Yugi's attention.

"Man, look at that. Looks just like you," she breathed. Indeed, the slate bore a figure that had an uncanny resemblance to Yugi. After a few moments of examining the slab, the feeling of unease resurfaced once again; although Bakura seemed to be staring at the exhibit, his gaze seemed unfocused, as though he was distracted by something else.

Almost as though he was observing her through his peripheral vision.

_'This guy's really creeping me out. Is he really one of Yugi's good friends? Am I the only one who feels this way toward him?'_

She thought back to the questions he had asked her earlier. They seemed casual enough, but it was strange that he hardly spoke of himself. Fortunately, she managed to dodge answering most of them by re-directing the subject to himself. He seemed to be quite good at evading her questions as well, though; that, and the few responses she did receive about him were vague and rather short. She began to wonder whether his appearance at the museum wasn't purely a coincidence.

Once again, she shook these suspicious thoughts off and focused her attention back onto the slate. There was no use in worrying if it was unproductive. Besides, why would he go out of his way to stalk someone he hadn't even met?

_'I really need to lay off the horror stories,'_ she thought to herself with a small smile.

"Who do you think that is?" Yugi asked after a few moments of silence. Astrid looked at the side opposite to the figure that resembled Yugi and felt disappointed when she saw that the majority of that side had been eroded.

"It's hard to see, but I think I see what looks like a wing… A duel monster, maybe," she suggested.

"Hm. Lets ask where it was found. It could play an important role in the story this depiction is meant to tell. I'll see if someone can come over," Yugi said, looking around. He walked in the direction of the entrance, leaving Astrid to inwardly debate over following him over staying at the exhibit.

_'I'm being silly now, even in the worst case scenario that Bakura really is a creep, we're in public. I'll be fine,'_ she decided.

As Yugi disappeared from their view, Bakura turned to her and smiled again.

"You seem to have an interest in Ancient Egypt", he said.

"Yeah, I've always found the culture and mythology pretty fascinating. I heard Yugi mention that your father's been there before."

'Might as well indulge him while we're here,' she thought.

Bakura smirked. "He's an archaeologist. Say . . . Have you heard of Millenium items?"

When Astrid shook her head, he continued. "They are rare ancient Egyptian artifacts; it is believed there are only seven in the world. He passed one down to me. Would you like to see it?"

_'Strange that he's talking so much now, compared to before,'_ she thought, pondering his question. Something about him - perhaps the tone of his voice or his unwavering gaze - still bothered her, but the prospect of seeing such a rare artifact was too intriguing to pass up.

"Sure, that sounds really interesting!"

Bakura procured the item underneath his shirt and she stared in wonder. It was beautiful yet unsettling, and left her to wonder whether it had a particular purpose.

He studied her expression as she continued to stare. "Some think these items were used in ancient Egypt to play shadow games - games that used magic to summon monsters." As he said this, there was a darkness in his smile.

Before Astrid could respond, she heard Yugi's voice behind her.

"Ah, I see Bakura has shown you his Millenium Ring. I'm sure you have an idea now of what my puzzle is."

"Oh, so that's what it is. I wonder where the other items are; it's ironic that there are only seven in the world, and you both carry two of them and happen to know each other."

Bakura smiled.

"If you'd like, I could tell you more about it tonight or tomorrow. You seem to be quite interested in these items . . ."

"Yeah sure, that'd be pretty cool."

Bakura's smile deepened. Unbeknownst to Astrid, he inwardly commended himself for his tactfulness. His plan with Marik might run its course even sooner than he had thought.

Now, all that remained on his end of the deal was to isolate her.

Author's Note: I know the chapters are dragging on a bit slowly, but I think the progression of the story will be better, and more rewarding, this way. Let me know what you think so far!


	3. Chapter 3 - the Meeting

After Astrid, Bakura, and Yugi spent some time asking the museum staff about the slate, Bakura parted ways with them at the entrance. Given his relatively quiet demeanor, Astrid was surprised when she had learned from Yugi that he, too, was dueling in the Battle City Tournament, and was staying in the same hotel as all of them.

'There's definitely more to him than meets the eye,' she thought to herself, though she couldn't identify what it was that was strange about him.

The prospect of learning more about the fascinating nature of these "magic games" was exciting as well. Perhaps it was the alluring rarity of the millennium Items and her interest in ancient Egypt that had drawn her to learn more about them. She had agreed to meet Bakura later that evening - after all, what harm could come of it?

She needed to be more social, she thought to herself.

Her conversations with Bakura had curiously livened up after they had discussed the ancient Egyptian games that supposedly preceded the modern duel monsters card game. More evidence, she supposed, that she should give people the benefit of the doubt more often; maybe she was wrong about him. He seemed quite intelligent, too, and she couldn't help but admit that he was at least decent looking. To say the least.

Astrid thought back to their earlier conversation. Why was it that the whole concept of ancient duel monsters struck a chord of familiarity within her? She couldn't quite place why and brushed it off as the occasional deja-vu experience.

'_Must have heard about it in passing or in a book, somewhere,'_ she thought.

Yugi's voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

"It's a shame the left side of the tablet was destroyed. I wonder what story it was meant to tell."

"Mm . . . Yeah, I wonder who was supposed to be there."

"Or what was there," he added. "By the way, it seems you and Bakura got to know each other," he said with a faint smile.

"Yeah, he was pretty quiet at first but he kind of opened up after we started talking about ancient Egypt. He seems to know a lot about it. Does he hang out with you guys a lot?"

"Sometimes. Not as much as he did before. He must be planning his deck and strategies for the tournament."

The two walked in silence for a few moments and Astrid gazed at her surroundings.

"You know, Astrid, you haven't really told us much about yourself. Come to think of it, I hardly know anything about you at all. I don't mean to be intrusive, but I'm curious - what did you do before you came here to Domino City?"

"The same goes with you!" she retorted, smiling. He returned the expression, but she could tell that he truly was curious. She wondered why; he wasn't usually this talkative with everyone else, and during the occasional instances in which he was, his conversations were usually related to duels. If anything, his past seemed as mysterious as hers, since he never talked about it either.

"I guess I don't think there was anything that was very important about it. I kind of floated from one place to another and wasn't really sure what I wanted to do career-wise. Still don't know, really. I actually put in an application to the museum while we were there, and who knows? I might even pick up dueling for the fun of it, thanks to your help."

Yes, she had felt aimless for years and, despite her confidence, strangely empty. She noticed that those feelings of emptiness had been growing lately, and it was disconcerting - she had been distracting herself from them by spending time with Yugi and their friends. She wondered when they would catch up with her.

"What about you? What did you do before you got into dueling?"

Yugi's expression dulled. "I don't remember much about my past."

Before he could finish his thought, they heard Tea calling them from down the road. It was odd that he said he didn't _remember _his past - had she heard him correctly? She mustn't have.

When Tea caught up with them, she decided to part ways and head back to the hotel. A moment before Astrid turned away, Yugi held her gaze. Although she thought he was going to say something, he lightly smiled at her and said goodbye.

* * *

The location of the Egyptian's hideout had changed since they had last met, but both criminals knew that this wouldn't inconvenience Bakura.

_How convenient this is_, Bakura mused to himself with a slight smirk. He knew his ring would lead him exactly where he needed to go; he did want the other millennium item, after all. Perhaps in a few days, he would even find out why Marik desired the supposedly almighty Egyptian god cards.

_What a fool_, he thought, but he did not discount the possibility that there was more to the cards than he knew of. If that was the case, he would indeed discover what it was that Marik knew of them. Eventually.

Bakura reached a rather run-down looking building, the ring pointed to a door near its front. Upon reaching it, he knocked twice, heavily. He saw slight movement from a dark figure in his peripheral vision and wondered if Marik truly thought he wouldn't notice his minions guarding the building.

The taller Egyptian opened the door, as he expected, and Bakura wordlessly pushed past him to stand directly across Marik, who was sitting stoically at the back of the room.

"When will you have the girl?"

Bakura ignored Odion's question and slowly crossed his arms, still facing Marik, who still hadn't bothered to look his way.

"You will give me the rod after she arrives. Tonight."

Marik's gaze shifted to his.

"I will give you what you want . . . Eventually. Don't think you will cheat me out of my millennium rod that easily," Marik said and stared at him intently.

"That was our _deal_," Bakura growled. He took an aggressive step forward but stopped when he saw a gleam as the two guards beside Marik brandished daggers.

Marik smirked. "No. Your end of the bargain was to bring me the Pharaoh's God card and the girl - but instead, I've decided there is no need to bring me the card. The girl should suffice . . . Under one condition."

Bakura's expression darkened.

"You will stay here until the pharaoh gives me what I want. Then our deal will be complete."

"_What_?" Bakura spat.

"A fair price for such a rare reward. The pharaoh and his foolish friends will be looking for her - their trust in you will be invaluable."

Bakura glared but considered the proposal. Taking the rod by force was one current option, but he was patient. The Egyptian was also right, to some extent. "How long?"

"A week. Two at most. I will retrieve the god card soon, but there is no need for clumsy mistakes."

"Two weeks and I _will _have the item," Bakura stated. He abruptly turned, pushed past Odion, and shoved open the door. "Be ready tonight."

With that, he slammed the door shut.

"We will need to watch him," Odion said. Marik inwardly agreed, but his gaze bored into his millennium rod. Bakura was proving to be more aggressive than he had anticipated. A shame he couldn't simply control his mind like all of the others, he thought.

He had also considered taking the girl hostage simply by controlling her mind; this would have allowed him to exclude Bakura from his plan completely. However, he changed his mind when he realized that may interfere with her memory - her knowledge of the pharaoh through their friendship might prove useful.

Marik stood and nodded to Odion, who then wordlessly left the room. They both knew what he was going to do once Bakura arrived with her.

* * *

Astrid had spent the rest of the day wandering the city. During the hours she spent walking alone, she had found herself ruminating over Yugi's question; why _was _she here in the city? The obvious answer was that there was no reason _not _to visit - especially since she had never known what stability felt like. She couldn't imagine living in only one place; the idea felt stifling, and yet reflecting on her nomadic lifestyle was depressing. She wondered if she would still be in touch with Yugi and the rest of their friends in a few years, or whether her friendship with them would fall into the same pattern of isolation that her previous relationships did.

By the time she arrived at the hotel, it was already dark; the day had been spent relatively leisurely, but she found that she was nevertheless exhausted.

'_I'm going to need this,_' she thought to herself, as she pulled off her boots and ran a bath, setting the temperature to be as hot as possible.

She suddenly heard a knock. 'Now's totally a perfect time for this,' she sighed to herself. The last thing she wanted to do was have a draining conversation while feeling this shitty. For a moment she debated pretending she wasn't in her room but changed her mind.

When she opened the door, she was surprised to see Bakura. She had actually been looking forward to hearing about the strange artifacts, so he wasn't necessarily an unpleasant surprise.

"I hope I'm not bothering you," he said, his gaze moving to the slightly open bathroom door.

"Oh not at all, come in," she gestured toward the room. "Let me turn that off".

He smiled and stepped into the room as she walked to the bathroom. When she came back, Bakura was leaning back into the couch with an uncannily smug expression on his face. His demeanor seemed to have changed entirely since he was at the door. Nevertheless, she took a seat near him.

'_Why does he look so pleased with himself?,' _she wondered.

"So you're curious about the millennium items," he mused with the same pleased expression.

"I've always found ancient Egypt fascinating; you obviously have always been interested in it as well," she stated. His smile deepened.

"Oh yes," he drawled. "But tell me . . . "

He leaned forward. Astrid began to feel uncomfortable.

"What is it that you are hiding from your friends?"

She was taken aback by the frankness of his question.

"What . . . ?"

"You and I both know there's something you're hiding from them. Perhaps, even . . . a _side _of you. Others may not see through your mask, but I can."

He was still smiling and starting to really freak her out, but Astrid was mainly focused on the fact that he was, indeed, correct.

As if to answer her next thought, Bakura spoke.

"Don't worry, they don't suspect a thing."

"Bakura, I really don't know what you're talking about. Why do you think I'm hiding something?"

"Don't play silly with me. I'll let you in on a little secret . . . My millennium ring allows me to glimpse into the darkness of mortal souls . . . and yours, Astrid, is quite dark."

He stood abruptly and walked to the door. Before he opened it, he threw her a glance over his shoulder. "Maybe you will eventually tell me why."

And just like that, he left, leaving Astrid puzzled about his statements regarding both her and his ring.

"Well that was fucking weird," she said aloud. Rude, too, she thought.

Still, the encounter left her very curious about him - did the ring really allow him to sense the troubles she had been running away from for most of her life? No, she refused to entertain the silly idea that there was something 'magical' about the millennium items.

After she stripped and finally sank into the steaming water, she also pushed away all thoughts about the darkness he mentioned; nothing good would come of them right now. She reflected on her friendship with Yugi and the others but couldn't help but wonder whether she'd ever feel comfortable enough with them to tell them about the memories she didn't want to think about. Regardless, she knew she was grateful that she had met them.

What she did not know, however, was that the key to her room was no longer on the table she had been sitting at with Bakura.


End file.
